No less then five minutes later, Father Salade came back fully dressed and ready to go, going back behind his desk. He tried to put behind the bear suit incident as if it had never happened in the first place.

"Anyway, you're probably wondering why I asked you all here."

Yep. I was so close to eating that 'pizza' thing too. Prier foot in mouth syndrome didn't bleed over this time, so it was just said to herself mentally.

"I need your help investigating a certain incident." They said. "You may have heard the rumors, but in the last few months there's been a host of grisly murders. Sister Olive is currently on the case, but as of yet we have no leads."

"Wait." Prier had thought of something. "Why is the church of the Holy Maiden investigating a murder? Shouldn't the police do it?"

"We'll, why don't you let me finish first?" Prier backed down a bit for now, she wasn't known for her patience. "These murders have a certain a certain disgustin-"

For some reason Alouette coughed.

"....." Father Salade blinked, sweat dropping a bit before correcting. "Erh, unusual aspect to them. "Publicly, they're being treated like any other murder. What the public doesn't know is that each case the victims hearts were ripped out."

"R-ripped out?" Culotte paled.

"That's right. But the really unusual thing is, someone else from the family is missing. The Royal Police are looking for the missing people, but so far hadn't had any luck."

Prier shook her head. "It sounds like an opening and shut case to me, the missing family members did it."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Salade paused. "But here's where things get interesting. First, in every case, the room was locked from the inside. Second, as I said before, there is someone in each case with a missing family member. The missing family members range from young boys to old women. They're all different. Third, there was a message written in blood in each scene with a finger."

"Finger print study shows its from the same person. Fourth, the message left behind was exactly the same in each case. What do all of these things tell you?"

"So in each case a family member is missing. But one person wrote all the messages.." Culotte trailed off.

Lloyd sighed heavily. "So we've got one guy running around killing people and kidnapping their family members? Great..." He hated stuff like this. Why did people have to do the things they did to eachother? There were so many other things to worry about in the world without having to worry about other people killing you.

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Alouette was thinking for a bit longer. "Father. To be more specific, you believe because of the nature of the murder, the murderer may be a demon or some other supernatural being?"

Salade nodded. "Exactly right. This case is a direct request from the Queen herself. We can't refuse."

Prier shrugged. "I wasn't going too."

"Anyway, Mt. Tarte is where the suspect is said to be hiding out at."

"So we just go there and take care of business huh? Sound easy enough. C'mon!" Prier was already out the door outside waiting for the others.

Culotte sighed. "..Prier doesn't have any patience."

"She's spirited." Alouette said amused and went outside to follow Prier who was waiting for them. "Before we leave, I need to remind you all that since this mission requires us to be a bit further from home, we'll have to be more careful. It's not too bad, but still, things like back up will take that much more time if anything goes wrong."

"Yeah, I know." Prier heard this a million times. "The quicker we get this done, the better. Because the more we wait, the more distance they can get between them and us."

"That may be true, but its no excuse to run into a dangerous situation half cooked." Alouette paused. "Lloyd, do you have any experience being in moutain areas?"

Lloyd blinked, then grinned. "Ah, yeah. Had to climb some mountains back home, go through mountain passes... had to go into an underground temple that was in a mountain... yeah, I have experience with mountain areas. Why?"

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

"Because." Alouette started. "I don't know much about the mountain area or passes. If we're to navigate through them, I think it would be best for someone who has experience with them to lead when we get there. In short, what I'm saying is, I'm entrusting you as a guide when we get there. Can you do that?"

..Alouette usually doesn't trust people to do stuff like that as quickly. Culotte noted but didn't say much of anything.

Lloyd was surprised, but nodded. "Ah, yeah, no problem. Well, so long as you mean, like... general stuff, and not stuff for the mountains here specifically. I mean, I've never been to them, so... and of course, you already knew that, sorry..."

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Alouette gave Lloyd one of her warmer smiles. "That's all I ask. Just a general guide around the area to help us through." Prier didn't know why, but Alouette was smiling a bit too hard at Lloyd for her liking. Culotte wasn't sure why Prier was glowering a bit but had since given up finding out the reason for her mood switches.

* *

Once they got the supplies and everything in order, they headed off to Mt. Tarte. Prier didn't much like it but she kept her complaints to a minimum. Alouette wasn't as physical fit as some of the others but she didn't complain at all; just quietly plodding along.

Lloyd was silent for a long moment, then dropped his own pack, looking to Prier. There was confusion in his eyes, as well as disappointment. "...Prier, why would you talk to him like that? Saying something like that... that all he's useful for is carrying things... I didn't think you were that kind of person." He looked away, brow furrowing. "You two wait here, I'll go find him." Lloyd then took off after Culotte, moving faster than he usually did when with them. After all, he was trying to catch someone, and wasn't subconciously slowing down a bit for the others.

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

It took a few minutes, but Lloyd finally caught up to Culotte, and sighed, walking up to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hey... you alright?" He wasn't sure what else to say at the moment, and he wasn't really the best with this, but he'd do what he could.

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Culotte turned to Lloyd and smiled. "It's okay. Lloyd, I want meet my mom." Her motioned to the strange woman from before, she did have a striking remsembalance to Culotte and to an extent Prier. He moved closer to her away from Lloyd. "I want you to.."

The next moment happened impossibly fast and off guard, the woman's hand becoming a claw and held to his throat. "Don't come near the boy anymore or he dies." The 'mother' growled in a inhuman voice. It was obviously not Culotte's mother.

There was a sound of a bullet being fired, and surprisingly, the strange demon seemed to catch it with their teeth, spitting it out. "Who's there?!"

"You make me sick." A strange man said, walking forward, having a old fashioned gun. "The way you trick your victims by changing your shape, it makes me sick."

The demon scoffed. "And you are?"

"I'm nobody special. But if you really must know, I'm Croix. Croix Raoul. I'm a free lance demon hunter working for the divine mother at the moment. One of your victims boyfriends hired me." The gun was trained on them, directly at their head. "Now, be a good little demon, and let me kill you."

They sneered. "You'd like that wouldn't you? But neither of you can reach me in time before I cut the boys throat." If they could just escape from these two..

Croix frowned under his shades, he needed to get the kid away from them..

Of course, the demon wasn't expecting a fly baton to hit them up side the hit empowered by some energy. Caught off guard, it was sent away from Culotte who scrambled away, Prier and Alouette came running.

"Culotte!" Prier ran to him. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm..fine." Culotte was more bothered by being tricked then anything else.

The demon snarling, rose to their feet. It's form began to change, that to a male Prier instantly seem to know because she paled. ..Daddy? It only lasted for a fraction of a second, instead it fueled Prier's rage. "How stupid do you think we are?! The dead don't come back to life like that!"

Something..shifted in the man then. "..The dead don't come back to life? Shut, up shut up! How dare you say such a thing!" The form, once human shifted into its true apperance, a hulking creature with tree trunk like arms of muscle. Gray skin and slightly hunched over with clawed hands.

It lunged at Prier first, a bit surprised at the thing's speed, or the fact she got batted away before Croix fired a shot at the things collar bone. It got a grunt from its efforts but kept coming; more focused on killing Prier more then anything at the moment.

There were many things that pissed Lloyd off, but two of the worst were hurting his friends, and using people's family to hurt them. As such, it wasn't too surprising that Lloyd cut between the demon and Prier, immediately lashing out with rapid strikes. He thought about Kratos' lessons, and focused on prime areas. The neck, heart, eyes, limbs. Anything to cripple or kill his opponent.

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

When Lloyd's strikes did hit, it was almost like cutting through something thick. They did break the skin, but it was hard actually cutting anything, as his strikes were met with fierce resistance. That, and the demon was notably stronger then the spectre Lloyd and the others fought so it wasn't nearly as easy the first time.

Prier flipped to her feet, moving forward and delivering a round house kick to its head while it was focused on Lloyd.

It's body jerked back, almost recovering-

-And was shot with mana ice empowered bullets from Croix. It ignored the hits, even as its left arm began to lose feeling and quickly freeze. Alouette was more focused on healing this time, instead of going on the offensive.

Lloyd continued to strike with purely melee attacks, despite his anger. He'd learned something from that last fight. He wasn't at his best. The mana density of this world was similar, yet different, to his home world. He hadn't fully adjusted to it, and as such, he was a bit weaker than he normally was, and his artes were not as powerful as usual, and took more mana than they should. He didn't want to end up using all of his gels so soon.

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

"Arm! Aim for its frozen arm!" Culotte shouted over the noise of the battle.

It left arm still was frozen, and in effect it made it a bit more sluggish. Seeing the success of the first one, Croix took another shot, this time towards its leg. At first it didn't slow it down but the powerful mana-empowered ice did its job of freezing it, allowing Lloyd and Prier to more easily pick off the creature.

Prier did, not wasting time to dash forward a side kick that shattered its frozen leg right from under it. With a howl of pain, it fell forward, but caught itself with its arms as it tried to defend itself(though did knock Prier away again)

Lloyd didn't hesitate. He charged in, leaping high into the air, before bringing both blade down on the frozen arm. He then twisted as he landed, and kicked the unbalanced demon, forcing it into a position almost directly between Prier and Croix, and slinging a Demon Fang at it for good measure.

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

With its lost of its lost of leg and one of its arm near useless now it was unable to really properly get move of any proper defense up. That was to say it was unable to much when it was kicked by Lloyd, the demon itself weighed a upward of four hundred pounds only, and since Lloyd could lift much more and strike with more force then that, it was easy to see why it would be sent flying.

Croix saw the chance and channeled his bullets with something else, the tip glowing red. "Smile nice for the camera, it'll last longer." A loud bang echoed through out the area and the now headless demon slumped to the ground before turning to ash. He sheathed his gun with a slight click noise. "What an waste."

Prier, once the danger had passed ran up to Culotte and gave him a tight hug.

"P-Prier, y-you're choking me." Culotte rasped.

At that his elder sister reluctantly eased off. "Why did you do that?! You can't run off by yourself like that."

"I'm sorry I worried you. I guess I should stick to carrying the luggage.." He looked a bit down.

Alouette stepped forward. "Sister Prier, Culotte wanted you to realize he's starting to grow up. He wanted you to understand he can hold his own and not always be a burden to you. ..That, and we'll, I believe its obvious why."

"..." Prier was quite for a bit. "Is that true Culotte?"

"I.." Culotte started. "You've always protected me, ever since we were little. But things can't go like this forever. I want to protect you for once..and everyone else."

"..I see.." Prier said, thinking.

And I thought I knew everything there was to know about him. But I was wrong. Culotte's growing into a young man and I haven't even realized it. I guess I wanted him to remain a child forever. Maybe I didn't want him to go and leave me.

I guess I was the one being childish in all this after all..

"Culotte." Prier's voice was more serious then normal. "I'm sorry about what I said."

"Okay."

"When we grow up, we'll eventually have to go our own paths." Prier said. "But for now, I want to stay with you. I want to protect you. Don't you think the Goddess would allow that?" She crossed her arms, nodding. "Yes, I'm sure she would. Sooo.." She smiled then. 'For now, I'm just going to continue bossing you around."

Culotte face faulted at this, but he oddly seemed relieved.

"Those two are quite the pair aren't they?" Croix said idly.

Alouette smiled. "They certainly are." But to be honest, like I said to Lloyd I'm a bit jealous of them. I don't have a family or even a past to call my own. But Lloyd was right, the present here was what mattered more.

Lloyd sheathed his swords, sighing a bit, and turned to Croix. "Thanks for the help." He held out his hand. "Lloyd Irving." He had this... nagging feeling, when he looked at Croix. There was something familiar about him, but why?

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Croix extended his hand. "Croix Raoul. You're pretty skilled with those sword of yours, I don't see too many people duel wielding like that these days."

"So you're working for the church of the Divine Mother at the moment?" Alouette asked. "My name is Alouette Blanc."

"Yeah. Just temporary, I usually work alone. I think I'll quit sooner though, I'm not sure how I like how they run something's." Prier and Culotte detached themselves for the moment to come introduce themselves as well.

Alouette, who saw the time decided to get moving. "We're pretty far out, so we likely won't make it home before dark. I suggest we set up camp and then move out in the morning to avoid moving in the mountains in the dark."

He wasn't sure what it was, but something about this made it click in his head. '...It's him. It's the 'Dark Prince' guy! Or... the guy possessed by it. This is the guy Alouette would sacrifice herself for... well, I need to find a way to deal with it without killing him, or Alouette sacrificing herself...'

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Seeing as Lloyd apparently didn't have a problem with Croix, the decision was made he could tag along with them. Lloyd was correct about them being the same person, but then it still begged the question who sent him the vision the first place and how they knew something like that happen as well.

The group set up camp with a few supplies, Croix had his own things and he didn't want to intrude on the group so he tried to make his traveling with them as painless as possible. He was at the burning fire, sitting on a rock while Alouette was doing the same, watching the dancing flames in the night.

As for the other two, Culotte was off not by the others but by Prier who had wanted to get away from everyone; and it became apparent why because she was crying. Culotte didn't really know what to say to her, but he knew what it was about.

..That night..

I saw Prier crying by herself. She must be thinking of our dead parents. ..Anyway, I think that's why she didn't want to talk about them at all in front of me. She didn't want to look weak in front of me. Prier always tries to look strong but sometimes I wonder..

I didn't really know what to say to her besides be there..so I just sat there gazing at the stars.

Lloyd was, despite what some may think, very observant. He knew more than he let on. He suspected why Prier was upset, due to various things, and just couldn't sit back and do nothing. He left Croix and Alouette at the campfire, citing wanting to take a little walk around, and made his way secretly over to Prier and Culotte. Then he did something wholly surprising. He knelt down behind Prier, pulling her into a hug, chin resting ontop of her head. He didn't say anything, at first. He wasn't letting go though, and was watching the sky, just like Culotte. Then... "...You know how I said that the Desian's killed my mother, and that her soul is in my Exsphere? ...Mind if I tell you the whole story, and why it made all the difference to my life?"

_________________"There is no such thing as 'Coincidence'. Only 'Inevitability'." ~ Yuuko Ichihara

Prier's body's tensed at first more out of surprise then anything else, then she slowly relaxed and closed her eyes. "..No. Go ahead." Culotte felt this was one of those moments so he didn't say much of anything, instead just listening. If there was nothing else he was good at, it was being a good listener.